I myself am not perfect at it, but I hope to teach you how to be artillery on the battlefield.
This guide will tell you on how to be arty for the aliens.
The Boiler
So you have evolved to this caste and you some how managed to not die while either guarding the hosts or being a dumb fuck and going AFK to evolve.
Congratulations on living this long.
The Boiler is an alien artillery class which presents offensive and defensive capabilities where you are there to either support your alien friends, harass the marines or generally land hell upon the marines. It's a tier three xeno that has the capabilities of a downgraded version of a mortar. With the use of clever thinking, proper positioning and communication, you will be able to eliminate most threats.
The advantage of these xenos are that they are a support class that is able to rain down hell from the heavens. Their acidic clouds of smoke is able to act as a smoke screen for the Xeno providing anti-marine line of sight cover.
Although these advantages seemed to be overpowered they do have their down sides.
They are tier 3 meaning they are slow.
They are lights in the dark, meaning a sniper could easily annoy them due to their ability to glow in the dark which is the one of the main factors for unsuccessful bombardments.
It takes time to load in another round of acidic arty so be patient and don't waste any.
Slow, bulky and a fucking lit up Christmas tree means you will need to be careful using this caste.
On your own with no marines heading your way, is a chance for the marines to drop dead if you see a squad . But if they are heading your way, be prepared to granny ass walk your way to safety while trying to say in hivemind "Save me the hosts are going to kill me!", cause you went out alone and they're close by, about right next to you. Be glad that when a boiler dies they release a cloud of acid upon death meaning you can die taking them down with you but don't count on it.
(My advice on boiler is that you STAY with a the hive or competent xenos who can plant weeds because you WILL need that plasma regen to effectively fight. Stay on weeds, look in all directions with the long ranged sight so no bastard could sneak up on you and generally use the uncommon, common sense.)
It has four abilities in total excluding the firing types which are:
- 1: Long ranged sight
- 2: Bombard
- 3: Acid spray
- 4: Super corrosive acid
Long ranged sight.
Long ranged sight is basically just the binoculars but with a disadvantage and an advantage.
They allow you to see farther and wider than all xenos. It is an excellent scouting tool so the hive does not need to use anyone to scout out as well as looking for any trouble ahead.
The bad thing is that you'll have to wait a few seconds in order to use it AND snipers can see you due to their increased view distance but you can't see them so be careful.(Including binoculars.)
It will say that "You start to look off into the distance. Hold still!" so stay put and don't move. And when I say don't move, DON'T MOVE. Since you will cancel the ability and you will need to do it again.(Clicking on a different tile that changes your direction will cancel your ability so stay put.)
Bombard
Bombard is what it means. You are launching a massive blob of acid (depending on the type) at where ever you wish to. You will also need to hold still for this, so stay put and get ready to bombard and pairing this with the long ranged sight means that you can launch blobs of acid at a further away distance.(Duh!)
Since I am damn sure some of you know which is which props to you but for those who have no idea which one is deadly or not, nerotoxic is a knock out gas which is coloured orange while acidic (the green cloud) is lethal, really lethal!
To use the bombardment ability you need to click bombard, click on a tile and you'll launch it.
And to use the acid spray just simply shift or middle click the area you want covered in a line of acid.
There are two types:
- 1:Nerotoxic.
- 2:Acidic/corrosive.
Nerotoxic is the one that shoots the knock out gas. This is non-lethal and will blind and slowly knock out marines if they are inside the area of effect but since it's non-lethal, it's more of a support weapon if the Queen wants host rather than an offensive one. It is particularly useful for defending the hive due to the clusterfuck of tight spaces if the drones and hivelords were able to make one. Always good for the use of tight spaces and host gathering. Also good if you can pull it off to be very good for harassment. They have an increased AOE than acidic so it works as a good smoke screen if needed.
Acidic
The acidic bombardment type is lethal as hell. It causes immense burn damage able to kill anyone near the acid cloud in seconds. This one is ideal for killing marines as well as just general harassment for putting marines from alive and well to dead in seconds.
Always ideal for groups or but rarely for singular targets such as lone marines but if you want them dead go ahead, assuming they're brain dead.
The acid spray
It can be used for offensive capabilities if the enemy is in CQC range then this is the perfect weapon to use. It is basically an acidic version of a flamethrower but with an increase travel time so that unsuspecting marines will be knocked down and will receive burn damage while more vigilant soldiers will often walk away from it. The spray has a six tile range so it is only effective in CQC. Even the most robust of individuals will sometimes walk into them by accident. Lag hurts.
Super corrosive acid
You basically have super acid that can melt all melt able things but it is very dear so use it wisely.
Preferably use it to melt those pesky reinforced walls or anything they left behind like stuff they abandoned in the FOB while they ran like cowards. The marines are also annoying enough with their fancy, shiny FOBs and their spanking new turrets guarding the entrances but are too afraid to step outside in fear of the aliens kicking their asses, like when ever. This is where you come along to make their day even worse.
It takes about 30 or so seconds to melt an object so if a pesky marine took out a M5 RPG in a hive and got knocked down, you know what to do!
Defensive uses
So some bastard marines were brave enough to face the hive by attempting to attack it. This is where you come in. Depending on the amount of hosts you have in stock and the aliens that are alive will factor in the capture or kill idea. If you are thoughtful to think about long term consequences and short term ones but generally who has the time to think about these since you are in the heat of battle.
If you are low on infected hosts then go and use nerotoxic which is basically making the marines easy targets for capture if you successfully land one dead center of a squad. This will effect how many lives the xenos get. Remember, the more hosts = more alien lives.
It's best to fire the blobs of acid behind the marines. This will cut off their escape unless they want to be melted into a pile of un-revive-able mush.
If you have a good amount of hosts (5 to whatever) then go ahead and kill the bastards. They deserve it, so go ahead and use acid to wipe them out.
Making landmines
Oh look, a resin hole. This would be a perfect opportunity to fill it with a cloud of acidic gas.
To do so, click on it with nothing selected.
It will fill the hole with what ever type of gas you have selected.
Do note, this will use up your bombard so please be thought full of this.
Offensive uses
So the Queen has ordered an attack on the marine F.O.B. or outpost. This is your moment to shine so don't fuck it up or you'll become gibs if the marines scored a devastating blow to the xenos offensive capabilities with you dead.
There are many ideal ways for attacking the F.O.B, some are directly at the frontlines, some can be a sneaky one shot from their flanks and much more. The most heavily fortified entrances will be tough. (Well depending on who's building the F.O.B, like if someone made a bunker out of it, good luck!) Your task is to just harass and support while killing.
It's okay to use the lethal acid, as diminishing the number of marines means you will get more of a chance to win but be careful of snipers since they can see you too with their fancy scopes.
Your clouds of acid provide cover that shields the xenos from the marine line of sight but be warned, they can still shoot them through the clouds.
BUT!
Your clouds of acid don't pass through everything like the infamous metal barricades where they can stop one from spreading far into their base. So please aim carefully at where you want to target.
Although you have a chance of it passing the barricade, don't count on it.
Assaulting the F.O.B basically means harass and kill for a boiler.
Some tips.
► Show Spoiler
- Muffin.
Gahn'tha-cte Bhu'ja: Honorable duelist, beserker charger, jungle hunter.